602 replies to this topic

[Ali_G]

Previous thread was closed.

Just on Sky News that News Corp are making an announcement later in regards to an F1 takeover.

Rumour has it that it involves a consortia of companies of which News Corp is one. Reported that John Elkann is involved in it, so who knows if FIAT are one of the consortia companies.

[Group B]

Hmm, so one of the world's biggest c***s was all over the news yesterday and another of them intends to be making headlines tomorrow

[Ali_G]

Scorg in chat just pointed out that's the consortia is News Corp and EXOR.

EXOR is a holding company of the Agnelli Family which through EXOR owns a large share in both FIAT and FIAT Industrial.

[madrocker]

http://joesaward.wor...xor-bid-for-f1/

Sky News, the preferred leaking destination of CVC Capital Partners, has declared that News Corporation and Exor, an Italian holding company, are bidding to buy the Formula One group from CVC.

[Brandz07]

So Fiat, the company that owns Ferrari will partly own F1?

[D.M.N.]

http://blogs.news.sk...df-f10810dc0366

[Ross Stonefeld]

Bulletin Board freak out in 3..2...

[Ali_G]

So Fiat, the company that owns Ferrari will partly own F1?

Well, it runs like this.

Agnelli Family
|
59%
|
Exor
|
36%
|
FIAT
|
90%
|
Ferrari

I'd imagine they might be doing it through EXOR to avoid competition laws ?

[peroa]

So, essentially we'll have exclusive Ferrari 1-2's on pay TV?

[pRy]

I know I'm going to sound like a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist by saying this but I sometimes wonder about that Mosley story the NOTW ran and why he suddenly became a target for them.

[Hairpin]

Bulletin Board freak out in 3..2...

I doubt it. The last 5-6 years has proved most of the suspicions to be correct. A move like this is more likely to create a sigh than a roar.

[Dunder]

Bulletin Board freak out in 3..2...

I doubt it.
It is early days yet and getting FIAT/Ferrari on board is more than likely just a first step to other manufacturers getting involved.

[D.M.N.]

eddstrawF1
#F1 IF News Corp does acquire the commercial rights and IF it were to put it on Sky, could be great for F1. Real investment and promotion.
4 minutes ago

I hope that is Edd's own personal view, and not the view of Autosport as a magazine company.

[pup]

But Christian Sylt told us this would never happen.

[Henrytheeigth]

So, essentially we'll have exclusive Ferrari 1-2's on pay TV?

That would be the only reason to pay....

[Ross Stonefeld]

eddstrawF1
#F1 IF News Corp does acquire the commercial rights and IF it were to put it on Sky, could be great for F1. Real investment and promotion.
4 minutes ago

I hope that is Edd's own personal view, and not the view of Autosport as a magazine company.

Why would it matter? He's not promoting slavery.

[ImDDAA]

I know we're jumping the gun but this is all very sad for me, F1 is something I share with my girlfriend and our son, we enjoy it as a family and it brings us a lot of joy, if it ends up behind a paywall then I'm done as an avid F1 fan and we'll pretty much lose it as a family.

[Johnny Alpha]

Regardless of the implications of F1 remaining FTA in the UK, if Murdoch succeeds in this takeover I will stop watching F1, simple as that.

[Ali_G]

How would F1 on pay TV be good.

It would destroy the teams primary source of income which is sponsorship money. It would destroy the sport

[Ali_G]

I doubt it.
It is early days yet and getting FIAT/Ferrari on board is more than likely just a first step to other manufacturers getting involved.

Why get News Corp involved then ?

[Disgrace]

Paywall = ⇈ piracy.

[Xpat]

Maybe we can get it on Versus in the US.

[D.M.N.]

Confirmed: http://www.exor.com/...i...569&lang=en

Joint Statement

EXOR, one of Europe’s largest listed investment companies, and News Corporation, the global media group, confirm that they are in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long-term plan for the development of Formula One in the interests of the participants and the fans.

Over the coming weeks and months, EXOR and News Corporation will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. There can be no certainty that this will lead to an approach to Formula One’s current owners.

Turin/London, May 3, 2011

"in the interests of the participants and the fans" - haha, cry me a river. Putting F1 behind a pay wall is in the interest of the fans? Don't be ridiculous. Couldn't be more ironic even if they tried.

Edited by D.M.N., 03 May 2011 - 17:50.

[goat0063]

Regardless of the implications of F1 remaining FTA in the UK, if Murdoch succeeds in this takeover I will stop watching F1, simple as that.

This

Shame if it happens - have been watching F1 since John Watson won at Austria in 1976.

[Kerch]

Hopefully live timing will remain free for years to come.

[Dunder]

Why get News Corp involved then ?

It is more the other way around, isn't it?
In terms of why the manufacturers have never seemed interested in doing something similar themselves until now, I don't know but lets not forget that FOA as a company has been highly indebted until recently.

[Fastcake]

It can only bring bad news when a media company wants to buy something it competes to broadcast. Only worse as it's Murdoch and his hive of **** at News Corp. Let's just hope the European Commission have a good long look at this, as there is no way news corp are going to let the sport be freely sold to other broadcasters when they can stick it on their own pay channels. Is there really much they can do to improve Formula One? And what is Edd Straw talking about with real investment? Where is that money going to end up except in CVC's pockets? Let's give the bankers one thing, their sole interest may of been money, but they didn't care what happened as long as the investment paid off. Murdochs hardly got interests for the good of all of us.

http://joesaward.wor...xor-bid-for-f1/

From Sawards post, all I can say is

[Ross Stonefeld]

Where is the announcement that F1 coverage will be put behind a paywall?

[D.M.N.]

Christ, that looks complicated.

[peroa]

Cunning little plan, as Baldrick used to say.
Get Max spanked in front of cameras, run the story.
Make it look like Todt leaves Ferrari on bad terms.
Make him FIA president.
Acquire F1, as a side product Ferrari gets a big say in how everything will run in the future.

[Buttoneer]

Where is the announcement that F1 coverage will be put behind a paywall?

It's clearly an extrapolation.

[Fastcake]

Where is the announcement that F1 coverage will be put behind a paywall?

It may not be announced, but why wouldn't News Corp try to "sell" F1 off cheap to their own broadcasting subsidiaries? It may not be the main aim of the acquisition, but it would save them millions in fees, they're not going to pass on the chance. It's certainly going to be on the EU's mind, as I mentioned.

[se7en_24]

This certainly goes to explain some of the stories from News Corp outlets (The Sun, Sky Sports News) regarding Bernie's football team QPR the past few days. Trial by media, Murdoch playing real games.

[wdh]

Interesting that this should come up at the very moment when Bernie has a 'bit of a problem' with the German authorities ...

[Ross Stonefeld]

It may not be announced, but why wouldn't News Corp try to "sell" F1 off cheap to their own broadcasting subsidiaries? It may not be the main aim of the acquisition, but it would save them millions in fees, they're not going to pass on the chance. It's certainly going to be on the EU's mind, as I mentioned.

That's assuming broadcasting F1 would be profitable for them either through ads or subscription. And if that's the case, they could just bid to broadcast the races now.

Imo they want access to the overall revenues.

[Pharazon]

wow... this is dirty by News Corp.. evil ****ers

[steferrari]

These are current EXOR's investments.

[jonpollak]

Bulletin Board freak out in 3..2...

.... 1
Waaaaaaa....
ME NO LIKEE !
Jp

[F1EC]

eddstrawF1
#F1 IF News Corp does acquire the commercial rights and IF it were to put it on Sky, could be great for F1. Real investment and promotion.
4 minutes ago

I hope that is Edd's own personal view, and not the view of Autosport as a magazine company.

Agreed. I can't think of a greater reason for me to stop watching F1. On principle, rather than cost grounds. I dislike News Corp, and have never been happy with Ferrari's influence within F1.

I hope Ferrari have the grace to withdraw from F1 if this happens. Not that I'll be watching.

[Risil]

eddstrawF1
#F1 IF News Corp does acquire the commercial rights and IF it were to put it on Sky, could be great for F1. Real investment and promotion.
4 minutes ago

Have I missed something? The BBC is generally thought to invest in and promote F1 well. I assume he means we'll see an increase in investment and production standards like BSkyB brought to football (although actually Sky Sports's football broadcast team were first assembled by British Satellite Broadcasting, the rival satellite TV company to Sky, backed by the Granada and Anglia franchaises). BSkyB's innovations in football coverage were to 1) massively increase the amount of broadcasting hours given over to live football (before on ITV there were around 10 live games broadcast per season; and 2) change the tone of the broadcasts, with much more time spent discussing footballing issues, tactics, team news, etc. As one might expect to happen, when the audience almost wholly consisted of people who had spent a lot of money on a subscription to a sports channel.

It's impossible to say whether English football became an enormous TV draw because of Sky's special work, or because it was freed from ITV's and the Football League's incompetence. Though it's worth pointing out that German football hasn't suffered from live broadcasts being free-to-air throughout the 1990s and 2000s. There is no suggestion that the BBC's F1 broadcasting is incompetent, though there are plenty that FOM's approach needs to be drastically modernised (though the pay-per-view digital service in 2002 was pretty cutting-edge, but it couldn't compete with free-to-air on ITV). Having a TV company partially owning F1 might be a very good thing for things like HD broadcasts, teams' availability to the media, the quality of the official feed, etc.

An analogous motorsports example might be the World Superbike broadcasts from Sky Sports. The series had no regular TV deal whatsoever from 1988-92, but Sky hastily put together a full-season package for 1993 fronted by Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen, and later including the likes of Steve Parrish and Suzi Perry, who would form the backbone of the BBC's MotoGP coverage from 2004. Sky's coverage and the rise of Carl Fogarty fed off each other until WSBK and Fogarty had become by the late 1990s very big names in British sport. Perhaps as a result of this, the British Grands Prix at the time became almost unattended (I think there was a pathetic 15,000 figure for the 1997 race at Donington). At which point (2000) the BBC took over the broadcast rights. Motor sport (or any sport) did not have the priority for Sky that football had.

[Risil]

It should be pointed out that legally, FOM don't own the "FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championship", the FIA do.* There are clear rules about what the FIA can and can't do, but they would certainly be able to block the flagrant conflict of interest of Ferrari alone sitting on the sport's board.

*I don't think I've framed this with proper legal exactness, but I know what I mean ;)

Edited by Risil, 03 May 2011 - 18:43.

[Ellios]

I think the negotiations will take some time.... meanwhile we can argue the virtues of pay-walls and investment promotions

most people complained about CVC taking so much monies out of F1 to furnish their debt - will it be even worse under News Corp et al ?

Edited by Ellios, 03 May 2011 - 18:41.

[ForzaGTR]

Oh well enjoy F1 while it lasts, Murdoch will be the death of F1 as we know it.

[Mandzipop]

I don't like the sounds of this. I know that the teams are wanting a bigger piece of the revenue, but this is going to alienate viewers. F1 is an expensive hobby even if you can only make 1 race every x amount of years. This increases costs for fans which is not right. Sorry, just rambling but if I cant afford to watch it as I don't have the sky sports package then I can no longer follow the sport that I love.

[Gilles4Ever]

It should be pointed out that legally, FOM don't own the "FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championship", the FIA do.* There are clear rules about what the FIA can and can't do, but they would certainly be able to block the flagrant conflict of interest of Ferrari alone sitting on the sport's board.

*I don't think I've framed this with proper legal exactness, but I know what I mean ;)

As Adam Cooper said #F1 Will be fascinating to see how the News Corp/Exor bid develops, and where Jean Todt - who has a veto on a sale of F1 - stands

[Risil]

As Adam Cooper said #F1 Will be fascinating to see how the News Corp/Exor bid develops, and where Jean Todt - who has a veto on a sale of F1 - stands

FOTA should buy it, and run it CART style. It'd at least give us a few years of entertainment.

Edited by Risil, 03 May 2011 - 18:56.

[BigWicks]

eddstrawF1
#F1 IF News Corp does acquire the commercial rights and IF it were to put it on Sky, could be great for F1. Real investment and promotion.
4 minutes ago

When on earth did Haymarket get taken over by News International ?!

Where are NewsCorp going to invest? In the tracks? In the teams? I don't think so, its a nonsense for anyone to say Sky taking over would be a good thing because they will invest, unless you are prepared to state where this investment is going to be. Experience tells us that the teams and circuits will continue to be the ones putting the most money in, and taking the least money out.

On BBC, F1 gets over 10 hours every race weekend on tv, radio and online, how are Sky going to top this? Seriously, state how exactly they are going to improve promotion of the sport or I'm going to suspect something fishy behind Autosport pushing Sky's involvement in f1.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Well, Sky isn't limited to just one country plus has lots of newspaper outlets? As a media conglomerate they make a compelling case for something as international as F1.

But apparently even considering that view makes you on the take.

[Crafty]

Can I just point out something, title of this thread is:

"Sky News: News Corporation and EXOR (FIAT) bid for F1"

This is not true, read TFA : http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/91096

The statement said: "EXOR, one of Europe's largest listed investment companies, and News Corporation, the global media group, confirm that they are in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long-term plan for the development of Formula 1 in the interests of the participants and the fans.

"Over the coming weeks and months, EXOR and News Corporation will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. There can be no certainty that this will lead to an approach to Formula 1’s current owners.

In other words they are thinking about putting their heads together to think about possibly making some sort of bid.
Thats an utter world away from "News Corp bid for F1"

I'm not saying it wont happen, but lets not get too excited just yet.

I think it'd totally suck if it went to Sky. I have no interest in other sports that they show and will not pay to subsidise football just so I can way a race every other weekend.

[The Ragged Edge]

With News Corp printed news media business model going down the pan, their long term strategy of securing premium sports based content, shows no sign of abating. The fact we already had Murdochs minions from his own titles, writing articles and effectively putting out feelers in the press, it was obvious their was some truth to the rumours and therefore the articles in his papers about a possible F1 buy out, was deliberate and planned.(which is typical Murdoch agenda driven, self-serving journalism, undertaken by his compromised editors and journalists) I cant stand Murdoch as a point of principle, but I will at least see what SKY does with F1, before I pass judgement. Since I already have a SKY subscription, I won't be affected anyway. I am though looking forward to this planned take-over with interest.